Robert Greenwald, President and Fiilmmaker of Brave New Films, at the Johns Hopkins University screening

We are so excited to announce the launch of Brave New Educators, a program that brings our documentary films directly to schools and college campuses. Along with these free screenings, we provide discussion guides, articles and activities to professors, teachers, and student groups. Students and professors gain valuable insight into the important issues featured in our films and discover ways to take action.

Most Americans take for granted the idea that they will succeed more than their parents did. But recently many studies have shown that Americans are not as socially mobileas their European counterparts. Nowhere are the consequences of that immobility so stark than in the criminal justice system.

Eight years ago, Jazree was like any other eight-year-old hanging out with friends and experiencing important milestones of her youth. She finished Elementary school and started the emotional roller-coaster called puberty. She even started having crushes — crushes on girls. All of these experiences impacted Jazree’s future, but one experience overshadowed all others. Jazree’s dad was sentenced to seven years in prison for possession of an unloaded firearm by a felon.

Imagine you’re a judge. A 19-year-old young man named Ronald D. Evans comes before you. He has been convicted of selling drugs and your job is to sentence him fairly. If you’re like me, you’d be pretty skeptical that such a young man was a cigar-chomping, mansion-owning drug kingpin, who deserves an overly harsh penalty. But maybe you’d still conclude he deserves some prison time. Not a lot, but just enough so that the punishment fits the crime.